Columbus Pale Ale

I began thinking about making this beer after having a few Hopalicious pale ales from Ale Asylum in Madison WI. This soon became my favorite hoppy beer. Its fabulous hop aroma and flavor smack you in the forehead, but its not overly bitter. So in planning my recipe, I knew I wanted big flavor aroma additions but low bittering. During the dark months of the most recent hop shortage of 2008, I was having a hard time finding the hops I wanted / needed. Ale Aylum uses Cascade, but I knew this was out of the question. I was only able to get a few ounces at a time – with cascade I was going to need probably double the amount compared to something like Centennial. So I began looking for a new variety of hops to use. At that time Columbus was pretty available, and Centennial one of my faves was a little harder to get. So I decided to use Columbus only. Also, at that time, I became aware of the technique of using a french press in order to extract some of the fresh hop flavor and aromas from the bittering hops you will use, and save that for later. To do it, you ake your bittering hops, place it in your coffee press and add a bit of hot / boiling wort from your pot. Steep for 15 minutes, then press like you would coffee. Save that “hop tea” and set aside ( you will add it back to the pot at the end of the boil). Scoop out the wet hops from the press, add to your boil pot and boil as normal. This should give you a little extra hop kick at the end. Add in 1 oz of centennial as a dry hop and this brew bursts with hop flavor and aroma without bursting the bank. The Wyeast American Ale II is said to accentuate the hop side of beers produced with it. I have no idea if its true – but thats a goode experiment for another day. Also you could try adding some gypsum – which might further enhance the hops. Granted this really probably isn’t an IPA – I would consider it a very hoppy pale ale, And the Columbus hops probably isn’t as refined as Cascade. But you get a great hopped up brew, on a tight budget using only 4 oz of hops. IPA for cheapskates! Enjoy!